Dispute over EU energy package: government coalition in Norway

The government coalition in Norway broke out in the dispute over the implementation of EU regulations for the energy market. The peasant center party as the previous junior partner of the Social Democrats of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will emerge in the course of the government, as the party leader and previous finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum and parliamentary leader Marit Arnstad announced in Oslo.

That from the coalition does not mean that Støre’s time is over as the prime minister. His Social Democrats can continue to rule alone by the next election, but have to fill up eight ministerial posts that have previously held politicians from the Center Party. It was wanted that Støre would stay with the head of government despite the end of the coalition, said Arnstad.

Shortly afterwards, Støre himself left no doubt that he and his Social Democrats will continue alone. In the course of the next week he wanted to introduce the new government members, he had already informed King Harald V., he said at a press conference. He emphasized that he would like a further good cooperation with the Center Party and that he was separating about disagreement in a specific question of fact. “We separate ourselves as political friends,” said Støre.

With her previous coalition partner, Støre’s party has already formed a minority government since 2021 that worked for majorities in parliament with other parties. The next parliamentary election is scheduled to take place in September. The Norwegian constitution does not provide early new elections.

Støre’s Social Democrats and Vedums Center Party have long argued about the implementation of an EU-ENGIEMAMMAMPAKET adopted in 2019 with the name “Clean Energy for all Europeans”, which consists of a total of eight regulations and directives. Norway is not a member of the EU, but is closely connected to it as a state of the European Economic Area (EEA) and also its most important gas supplier. Brussels has pushed Oslo to implement the package as an EEA state and nearby EU partner.

However, the center party vehemently ran against this implementation. While Støre wanted to water at least three less controversial directives of the package in Norwegian law, the EU-skeptical party was completely against it and, above all, rejected the expansion of the powers of the EU agency for the cooperation of the energy regulators, ACER for short. She justified this attitude by the fact that Norway’s package could weaken the national control over the energy sector and a closer bond with the EU energy market at higher electricity prices.